Volkswagen to take 49.9% stake in Porsche

Volkswagen has announced that it will take a 49.9% stake in sports car maker Porsche in a first step towards merging with the company. Volkswagen’s initial plan was to acquire 42% of Porsche and with the increase in stake, Volkswagen’s position in the equation will be stronger sooner than expected. The German auto giant also assured that the merger between both companies is still scheduled to take place in 2011.

Currently both companies are working together in certain areas such as manufacturing the Porsche Cayenne and the Volkswagen Touareg in the same plant as well as the utilization of Volkswagen’s 3.6 litre V6 by Porsche. The above mentioned 49.9% stake will cost $5.8 billion and the company also assured that it is committed in “preserving the independence and the interests of Porsche” – which is a good move.

Porsche will join other brands like Bugatti, Audi, Lamborghini as well as Bentley to become the company’s 10th brand. Volkswagen also announced that it plans to increase its preferred share capital by the first half of 2010 in order to refinance the participation and maintain Volkswagen’s good credit rating.

Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring TV programme and as our version of the Joker.

Funny that in the begining, it was Porsche that wanted to take over VW when they make a huge profit couple of years back. Now, the hunter have become the hunted and lost 49.9% of its shares? I personally think that Porsche biggest mistake is its over ambition especially with the Panamera model. Porsche really need to sell it ASAP b4 the gorgeous Aston Rapide is out! Anyway, I think Porsche is in good hands…who else is better to handle such prestige name than VW just like what they did with Bugatti and Lamborghini.

Porsche is facing bankruptcy because they overgeared themselves when they tried to take full control of VW. It backfired, the Porsche boss stepped down and now VW is doing a reverse takeover to not to control Porsche but to save the German sports car maker. All boardroom tussle between the Porsche family members and their 'in laws'.

I think the VW control over Porsche itself is going to put a lot of financial risk on VW. But this is a real life German version of the tv hit soap 'Dynasty' :)

The Panamera is already on sale and has beaten the others (Rapide) to the marketplace. You can view it in the Porsche KL showroom.I don't think they made a bad call with the Panamera. It is where the market is moving.. They beat everyone to it, they are expanding into a new segment and the product is very impressive. Better than the Rapide in my view. Have sat in it.

The Panamera is already on sale and has beaten the others (Rapide) to the marketplace. You can view it in the Porsche KL showroom.I don’t think they made a bad call with the Panamera. It is where the market is moving.. They beat everyone to it, they are expanding into a new segment and the product is very impressive. Better than the Rapide in my view. Have sat in it.

Bro, I know that the Panamera is here and have beaten others by launching it earlier but as far as I know Rapide is still ain't out yet right? As most foreign magazine I read, most journalist commented that the Rapide is more gorgeous and should give the Panamera a runs for its money. Anyway, I ain't saying that the Panamera is not well built…I mean its a Porsche for god sake!! But I think I'll just wait for the Rapide to come out and let's this two compete face to face and see who's has the best 'recipe' for the ultimate performance saloon then.

Torque, i think it's mostly down to personal taste between Rapide and Panamera. The latter, like a typical Porsche ain't the prettiest thing around. The Rapide looks handsome but personally I'm just bored with the styling and can't tell the difference between an AMV8, DB9, Rapide or Vanquish if it was about to run me over :)

Reports have said that the Rapide is tight in the rear interior. The Panamera in my view excels because of its interior, powertrain and handling. You just have to close your eyes as you walk to the car but once inside it's very classy. It's the classiest Porsche interior ever. You also simply can't deny the 4.8 turbo V8. With launch control and overboost this heavy 4 seater monster does 0-100 kph in 4.0 seconds! That's exotic sportscar figures.

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